Economic mutualism in the US

November 21, 2024 11:37 AM

“We can look to one another to solve the most intractable problems we encounter in our lives.” An essay mostly about a book on forming mutually supportive economic structures. Examples of past successes; no details on the laws that changed to make them harder, though the outline of Reagan and roll-ups is clear; suggestions for what is needed now.

Via a fediverse post

posted by clew (2 comments total)

So far I'm liking the municipal aggregation which I now get my electricity from. Depending on who you ask, municipal aggregations were created either to provide a pragmatic way for towns to benefit from group purchasing without having to go through all the effort of forming a co-op, or they were created to steer interest in forming co-ops into a more commercial-friendly entity.

Either way we benefit over the previous direct to consumer model.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:17 PM on November 21

Nice article—many Americans don't know about Mondragon, the highly successful European cooperative. For those who are interested in investigating these alternative economic formations, I highly recommend J. K. Gibson-Graham's A Postcapitalist Politics (U of Minnesota, 2006) and the related communityeconomies.org.
posted by vitia at 3:45 PM on November 21